A Kind of Communication
El has become very good at listening. Listening to the noises people try not to make when they want to shoot you by surprise, and the sounds of a person with no eyes to close's breath lengthening out into sleep.
He listens, for Sands, and he sees for him too, but he will not think for him, because there are some things a man just won't relinquish, especially when that man is Sands. And El would not want to think for him anyway. His own damn thoughts are awful enough most of the time.
So. They have a sort of communication, because Sands needs El, but he refuses to let El make all the decisions without asking his opinion, especially when those decisions could end up being life-threatening ones.
El tells Sands where he plans to go and what he plans to do when he gets there, and Sands, with usual aplomb, tells El just what he thinks of his stupid-ass plans.
And then they go where El planned to go, and they do what he planned to do.
El has to admit, it does look like Sands has no say in the matter at all, but the point is that El tells him – and nine times out of ten, Sands makes a subtle change to El's plan, without telling El, and it saves both their lives.
Still, he wishes Sands would warn him, sometimes.
So when they're being shot at, El helps Sands with the hearing and seeing – because there's only so much a blind gunman can hit before he misses. And Sands helps El by, well, making sure he doesn't get in over his head – because there's only so many times a legend can walk into a bar and expect people not to start shooting immediately.
And El listens at night as well, for the deeper breaths Sands makes when he falls asleep, because Sands can't shut his eye sockets, and El can only imagine how irritating the other man finds it. Because apart from his breathing, you can't tell when Sands is asleep, and no matter how many times they've backed each other up in gunfights now, no matter how many opportunities Sands has had to betray him, El still finds it kind of… creepy that he's never sure when Sands has let his guard down.
In return, Sands has become El's voice. El doesn't like to speak much – economical with words just doesn't cover it – and Sands has enough swearwords for the both of them.
He speaks the thoughts El doesn't voice, because some things are better out than in, and he speaks to sources and civilians and cartel fucks – though in the case of cartel, usually not for very long.
He talks when they're on the road, hitchhiking along dusty trails, and not a single car will stop for them. He talks while they eat, and while they shoot and all the time, he talks, because he's talking for two. But when El plays his guitar, Sands shuts up. Surprisingly enough, this does not make El play more often – a sure-fire sign he doesn't mind the talking.
Sands needs El, he knows he needs him. To survive, he needs a man who can fight and who can see and who isn't going to sell him out more than El has already done – and Sands is willing to admit, because he needs him, that it wasn't because of El that his eyes were torn out on the Day of the Dead.
And, Sands recognises, he needs a man who is alive. So he talks, and as long as El listens, he knows he's still standing.
They make a strange pair of companions, but even stranger is how well they complement each other. Together they make a full set of senses – sight, hearing, speech… Apart they would still have those, in one way or another, but less, much less.
El is waiting for Sands to give up on him, thinking he's the walking dead already and forgetting that without El, Sands is a dead man too. Sands is waiting for El to realise he's alive.
Every night, wherever they are, they share a room, and not once has Sands heard El fall asleep before him. Sands is kind of amused by this, and kind of insulted. He's waiting for El to realise that Sands never lets his guard down, because once that's done, they can move on to more important topics.
They've got a kind of communication going and it's not perfect, but it will be.
Author's note: I'd like to thank Guede Mazaka because I've been reading her fics for the last week (and am still not finished) and there's only so many incredibly cool stories you can read about Sands and El before having to write something yourself.
I'd also like to thank my flatmate for laughing at all the right bits when she read this, and because I promised I'd mention how evil she is, the next time I posted something.
About the story: A general and much used premise that Sands and El are travelling together and backing each other up… I also wanted to play on the way most authors write Sands as being the one whose hearing becomes really good, because if you've seen Desperado, you'll know El's senses are… legendary (I'm thinking of the scene when Carolina's singing).
Also, sorry it's not very long – I had absolutely no intention whatsoever of writing any OuaTiM fanfiction, so this one-shot came as a bit of a surprise…
Michelle: Look! A story in exchange for pictures! *Hint hint*